Heimssýn (

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

: ''World View'') is an organisation of

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

eurosceptics Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies, and seek refor ...

who actively campaign against Iceland becoming of a member of the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

founded in June 2002. It was founded in June 2002.

Ragnar Arnalds Ragnar Arnalds (8 July 1938 – 15 September 2022) was an Icelandic former MP and twice cabinet minister. He studied literature and philosophy in Sweden from 1959 to 1961 and graduated with a law degree from the University of Iceland in 1968 ...

, former MP and

Minister of Finance A finance minister is an executive or cabinet position in charge of one or more of government finances, economic policy and financial regulation. A finance minister's portfolio has a large variety of names around the world, such as "treasury", " ...

, served as chairman of the organisation from its foundation until 2009. The current chairman is

Jón Bjarnason Jón Bjarnason (born 26 December 1943) is a former member of parliament of the Althing, the Icelandic parliament from 1999 to 2013. An agronomist by training, he served as Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture (Iceland), Minister of Fisheries a ...

, former Member of the Althing and Minister of Agriculture, and the vice-chairman is Jóhanna María Sigmundsdóttir, Member of the Althing for the nationalist

Progressive Party Progressive Party may refer to: Active parties * Progressive Party, Brazil * Progressive Party (Chile) * Progressive Party of Working People, Cyprus * Dominica Progressive Party * Progressive Party (Iceland) * Progressive Party (Sardinia), Ita ...

. The organization is sponsored by Bændasamtök Íslands, an agrarian lobby group of Icelandic farmers, and receives free advertising in their newspaper Bændablaðið.

Criticism

Heimssýn has gained criticism for factual errors, false allegation and "fear-mongering" in their propaganda. The organization claimed in television adverts prominently featured in 2012 that accession to the European Union would be a direct eradication of Icelandic national identity, independence and lead to an unrecoverable loss of individual freedom. Such claims have been in their entirety dismissed by experts at the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( is, Háskóli Íslands ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' s ...

. When the current Icelandic government attempted to withdraw Iceland's application for membership to the European Union, then party chairman and representative of the government Vigdis Hauksdottir defended the government's decision by claiming that Europe was suffering from widespread famine and alleged that

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

could not be compared to Iceland when discussing membership as a result of it being a county within a larger country. Both of these allegations were condemned by members of the Icelandic intelligentsia and representatives of

Unicef UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

. Unicef representative dismisses Vigdis's assertion of European famine
(February 23, 2014), accessed October 31, 2015.

References

External links

Heimssýn
- Official homepage
Heimssýnarbloggið
- Official blog-site Political parties in Iceland Euroscepticism in Iceland Political advocacy groups in Iceland 2002 establishments in Iceland Organizations established in 2002 {{Iceland-poli-stub